Many businesses and organisation use Facebook Advertising as a channel to grow. It can be a highly effective, low cost way to connect with your your targetaudience, and with a new change ahead, this great tool is about to improve the way your Ad is seen.
The key change I want to focus on in this article is to the newsfeed description text (this is the text you see under the large headline). Essentially, when you include a link in an Ad you have the option to add a description (this is separate from the headline).
Previously, everyone got to see this piece of text in your ad. Now, when this Ad appears in the News Feed it will now show ONLY to those more likely to take the action you want, whether it’s purchasing a product or filling out a lead form.
Why is Facebook doing this?
Because they are on a mission to make the delivery of content (paid and organic) more relevant to its users. So hopefully it will make marketers (and publishers generally) be more strategic in the content they produce.
What does it mean for users?
To be honest, they are not likely to see the change at all. And the description is only going to be shown to those most likely to engage with the ad anyway. But it does mean that the headline text is all the more important.
Will it improve the performance of your Ad?
At the moment it’s hard to tell. But, any change that improves the experience for Facebook users is a good thing.
Just as an example, some people are more likely to take an action, such as making a purchase, when they see the price of an item directly in an ad. Others are more likely to make a purchase when they see the price only after interacting with an ad. Facebook will decide whether or not to show your description based on what we think will most impact each person and cause them to take a meaningful action.
It’s an even more tailored way to get your product in front of the right audience.
What’s the catch?
It won’t always be seen by your target audience, that is the nature of the social media beast. So be strict with what you put in the description. It’s best to keep it as non-essential information (to your brand) and put that essential information in the headline of your Ad. What’s the headline we hear you say? This text (up to 25 characters) below the image or next to the image is larger and more obvious than the other text sections, and clearly describes the most important piece of information to users.
Don’t forget though that non-essential isn’t always non-useful, think of it is an additional way to connect with those you want to serve.
Social media content is a great way of communicating to and building relationships with your potential customers. One of the best ways to promote businesses of all sizes is through developing a strong content marketing strategy. The tool I love using when it comes to planning content is Buzzsumo.
However, you can’t simply fill in a website with all and any content that comes to mind and then expect it to bring potential clients. You need to have relevant content that will appeal to your target audience and will answer their questions. But what tool can help you in doing this? Buzzsumo is a great tool to find out what content performs best. This tool allows a user to find out what the content is popular by website or by topic.
With the use of Buzzsumo, it can help you identify key influencers based on keywords. But what can Buzzsumo do in your business?
Buzzsumo allows you to identify which content is being shared the most and who shared it which is important. Thus, this gives you the details on who is the influencer and knowing who has the public’s trust and attention can give you the understanding on who you can follow for inspiration.
Buzzsumo can provide you keyword alerts so you will be notified when content is posted or updated. Keeping up to date with trending content, and then sharing it across your own social platforms, can help increase reach into new audiences.
Buzzsumo can give you an analysis on how your competitor is doing. Knowing and understanding what your competitors can do and what is working and what is not working for them can help inform what you do. This will give you insights on what works best for you and it will help you to avoid things that are not effective.
Writing content is a tough task and no matter how we allot a certain time to gather and think of new ideas, we rarely devote enough time to curating and creating good content. Buzzsumo, to my mind, has proven to be an effective tool when it comes to improving your content marketing strategy. Just always remember in using any kind of tool or system just like Buzzsumo will depend on what you want to achieve and where are you in terms of your own content marketing.
If you want help getting more out of your social media marketing, please download our free step by step guide today!
LinkedIn is the best social network for professionals. In Australia it is a platform that is used mainly for connecting to colleagues and other work related matters (and for recruiters to head hunt for talent!).
As a social media tool, LinkedIn is built around making connections; and has prompts to encourage you to grow the number of people you are connected to. But one question I’m often asked about is ‘Should you accept requests from people you don’t know?’ The short answer is: it depends. Below is the longer answer.
The next time that someone send an invitation in your LinkedIn account, think twice before accepting it. Not just because you don’t know the person but this is because it is part of LinkedIn’s official rule. This is under Section 8.2 wherein it states that members agree not to “invite people you do not know to join your network.” This is because LinkedIn’s purpose is to build connections that are appropriate and build genuine professional communities. But, and this is a big but, as long as you do your due diligence, it is ok to accept a connection from someone you do not know.
You might also consider these factors when it comes to accepting connections from LinkedIn.
Check the profile photo. If there is no photo, I’d say no.
Personal message. I’ve been impressed by those who have taken the time to craft a personal message before sending me a request.
Other people they are connected to. If you have lots of mutual connections, then maybe this person is fine, and could add value to your network.
Browse through their profile. The profile says a lot about that person so check interests, current job or past jobs and other important details. Knowing this will help you in deciding whether or not to accept the invitation.
Quality over quantity is key when connecting with other on LinkedIn. Remember, LinkedIn is designed to build connections to help you in your professional life so before accepting, always take a little time to think about it.
If you want help getting more out of your social media marketing, please download our free step by step guide today!
Consumers always purchase products from the brand that they know and trust. This means that as a business owner, you need to interact well with your customers and by doing this; your customers will identify you, primarily through consistent branding. When consumers know the identity of your brand, then they will build a relationship with you, they will trust you and then purchase from you. It’s what we know as the ‘know, like and trust’ factor.
Whether you’re a retail store, cafe, online shop, boutique or even non profit organisation, your brand needs to gain proper exposure and social media can help you in reaching your target market by spreading the message to your target audience.
Social media is a cost effective way of advertising a company’s products or services but you should consider the importance of consistency in branding. You don’t want your customers to be confused that’s why it is important to have consistency.
But why is consistent branding important?
Brand consistency takes your product to the next level of marketing by bringing a level of professionalism to your business. Look at a name and slogan for your business so that your customers can easily identify you. When your customers see your logo, it should evoke emotion, and create the urge to purchase from you without even asking for them to do so. You should have a consistent display name on all your social media accounts, like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This is important because having different brand names will have the notion of confusion to your customers and this can result to your customers questioning your brand’s official name.
Brand consistency is about building trust. A customer buys and trusts the brand that they know and recognise. When consumers are trying to find a certain product, it is not just about the name but there is also an emotional decision that takes part so as business owners, you should engage your consumers on a personal level. With consistency in branding, it will engage to your customer’s emotions and through this, your brand will be trusted.
When you have consistency in your brand it will not create any confusion to your fans. One of the reasons why you have a fan page is to promote your business and what you offer. The goal of social media is to reach your audience and other potential consumers so if you will be inconsistent then, this will lead to your customers to not follow you because they might find it confusing.
Developing a consistent brand may be challenging but once you know the importance in your business then you won’t find it hard and you will see that your efforts will have a positive outcome in your business.
If you want help getting more out of your social media marketing, please download our free step by step guide today
Last week, while Facebook faced a worldwide outage, many businesses were left in a panic about how the incident would impact them in the short term. Not to mention many social media users took to other platforms like Twitter to find out what was going on.
So what can we learn from this incident? Here are my top three tips:
Diversify your marketing mix
Do not just rely on one channel to grow your business. If you put all of your eggs in the lonely Facebook basket, then you will be opening up your business to risk when the platforms changes (like the huge newsfeed and ad changes from 2018) or there is an interruption to the service (like last week).
Start by mapping out who your target audience is, where they are likely to hang out (ie, what social media and other online channels are they on?) and create a presence on each one. Also don’t discount other tactics like PR (try signing up for Sourcebottle) and blogging.
Don’t build your business on rented space
The only online spaces you own are your website and your email list. Facebook, and other social media platform are spaces you can ‘rent’, but you will always be subject to their Terms of Service, changes to the platforms, increasing costs and other things.
Use social media to find your audience, grow your awareness, and build a community of loyal advocates. Social media is a fantastic way to supplement you owned online space, but it should never take the place of them.
Always have a Plan B
Even the most well thought out plans can fail from time to time. Your marketing plan needs to be flexible so it can adapt to times when external circumstances out of your control impact on your day to day activities.
When one tactic fails, what will you do to replace it quickly, and cost effectively?
Over to you:
How did you deal with Facebook going down? Did it impact your business, or was it business as usual?
